HO in the garden

[Anonymous]

I'm new to all of this, so please excuse what may be a dumb question. But how sucessful are HO layouts outdoors. I know there are size issues - keeping the small tracks clean and free of obstructions etc, but that aside, it doesn't seem to be as popular as G scale outdoors.

Whilst I am space rich, I have a modest budget, and existing HO stock. from what I have seen, HO allows a more realistic train length, where G tends to allow a loco with only 3 or 4 carriages. Am I wrong in this assumption?

Thanks in advance.

[DSchmitt]

I remember seeing an article on an HO outdoor layout many years ago. An Index of Magazines search came up with 5 entries.
http://index.mrmag.com/tm.exe?opt=S&cmdtext=ho+outdoor&MAG=ANY

The article I remember was probably the one in the Sep 1964 Model Railroader. If I remember correctly the track was mounted fairly high up on a fence, not on or near the ground.

Most G and some O are designed to be used outdoors. The mechanisms are sealed. The generally unsealed mechanisms on HO would be hard to keep clean.

[Anonymous]

The British have been doing HO outdoors for years. What you have to remember is the plastic sleepers in HO track are not UV treated. I suspect that the area of Australia you live in sees a lot more UV from the sun than they get in UK, so depending on exactly where you lay your track you could find the sleepers discolouring and going brittle in a short time. Having said that, if you hand lay on wooden sleepers, or lay track in the shade, or have a budget for replacement every few years you will be fine.

There a 2 people I know of in Christchurch, New Zealand who have laid HO outside (in the shade) and it's fine. There is also track coming out now for On30 gauge (which is actually HO gauge -16.5mm) but bigger sleeper spacing which does have UV treated sleepers. Maybe you could use that in the sun, and heavily ballast it.

The other thing to consider is how those small HO flanges will cope with leaves and debris on the track, and if you area is prone to winds, which could blow lightweight HO trains off the track.
But it certainly can be done, you might just have to experiment for a while.

Glen.

[Capt Bob Johnson]

As to train length, I'd say just watch for postings written by Marty Cozad on all 3 major forums and you'll find the error of your misconception! A lot depends on gradient and amount of grade; a fairly flat layout would allow longer trains than steep mountain terrain!

[kovacjr]

Here are a link that show the 3-4 car max just does not apply to largescale...

http://www.mylargescale.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=22958&SearchTerms=intermodel

~ Jay

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

DSchmitt, the problem of cleanliness is one that I hadn't thought of.

Rocky, we do get strong wind, but being low in the garden might help. UV is a big issue, and a lot of the track will be in sun for most of the day.

Capt Bob, forgive my naievity. The fewer garden layouts I have seen have short trains - the excuse being that the engines haven't been able/tried with longer trains behind them. The terrain I have is fairly flat. I'll keepan eye out for Marty.

kovacjr, that link was really inspiring. Thanks for blowing that theory out of the water!

[Anonymous]

Ok here's a posting with some of Marty's photos (there is 9 pages of it).
His back yard is just a fraction bigger than most so he can fit just a little bit more in, so hold your chin up tight, or you'll be picking it up off the floor.
Now prepare yourself to be blown away! ....

http://www.mylargescale.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=23449&whichpage=8&SearchTerms=bridge

[bman36]

Hi there,
Welcome to the forum! Glad to have you on board. Personally I find HO too small for the outdoors. Take a look at the starter sets advertised in GR. For a couple hundred you can be up and running. Track can be added as you can afford it. Recently I blew out about 90% of my HO collection. Used the money to add to my Large Scale stuff. Just a suggestion. Enjoy the forum! Later eh...Brian.

[Wild Bill]

Why not go for halfway? Have you considered O guage?
I succesfuly operate an outdoor O guage in my backyard. I get twice the train in the same space as G-1.
Atlas makes a nickle-siver track with Uv rated ties that does very good here in the Nevada desert. I have mine layed directly into road bed just like the larfer scale, and it holds up beautifly! Many manufacturers make engines, and rolling stock that do very well outdoors with sealed drive systems.
MTH, Lionel, and others make engines that already have full sound systems, and digital control built in. MTH makes a series of cars called "rugged rails" that are made of diecast, and look very good. Williams makes aluminum and steel pasinger coaches Etc.
And best of all, the cost is about what you'd pay for good quality HO componants.
If you have any questions, just let me know...

[TurboOne]

Misty Bee, [#welcome][#welcome] glad you are here. I see that you are a hortocologist, that helps for the railroad. [:D][:D]

I too wanted to use my existing HO outdoors. Besides leaves, and debris that could clog up things, the garden folks also talked about bugs. While the G scale, and even the O scale will take care of the pests, HO might not. And having a spider take out my loco didn't excite me. You can do it in the shade, but one of the guys said in Arizona, they melted the ties and watched the track deform within hours.

I like the up higher idea, but when I go outdoors, it will be in O or G. For now garage and HO. A few folks in the garden club here in San DIego, have kept their train indoors and added plant life to the inside layout. No dirt, no bugs, and the trains work great. !!!! [^][^][^]

Good luck. Stop by the garden coffee and tea shop and say hello.

Tim

[Anonymous]

Real men only run "G" gauge in the garden


ian

[cacole]

One simple way to find out if your HO scale items can withstand your local climate is to place a piece of track and a piece of rolling stock outdoors and leave them for a few months and see what happens to them.

Here in Arizona you wouldn't dare put HO outdoors. Even G scalers in the Phoenix area say they have had pastic wheels melt on the rail in the summertime, and that metal wheels are mandatory for outdoor use.

We have ran HO outdoors on a portable modular layout during our club's open houses in May and November with no problems, but that's not the hottest time of year here. I even had a Rivarossi passenger car's roof curl up into a U shape from the early morning sun shining through a window in the Wintertime.

HO track and rolling stock do not have any UV inhibitors in them like G scale items do.

[Anonymous]

Wild Bill,funny you should promote O scale, as there is an Oscale auction here on Saturday. Might check it out.

Turbo, boil the jug. I'm on my way! Re the bugs, I'm more worrried about our cats and my kids. I don't think the odd stray cow would do it much good either! I guess mainly our biggest concern is ants.

Carcole, I imagine we have a similar climate to Arizona (albeit wetter). We range from a winter min of -3C to a summer max of 42C. So anything meltable would probably die.

My location would definitely be low,due to the topography of the site. There will not be any raides garden beds to play with.

The ideas and advice are great (even from Cane Toads LOL). Thanks everyone. Keep it coming!

[steveblackledge]

thought about that for a while then gave it up as a bad idea, the issue of maintaining anything like a long HO scale outdoor railroad puts me off. Debris, spiders webs in the mechanisms of loco's and allsorts of dust getting into the gearboxes could cause early failure. track expansion and contraction due to weather conditions causes problems, you don't need much heat to expand the track out of line causing derailments. You could run trains on R/C if you can get a decent small nicad pack and R/C receiver that would go into a boxcar or something like that, this would mean you could run on rusty track without a problem.
if i were going outdours i would go upto a bigger scale than HO